Interviews

Beatmania

Konami's finally bringing its first Bemani title to the U.S. in style -- would-be DJs rejoice, Beatmania is coming.

The Beatmania series of rhythm and action games have been hugely popular in Japan since the late '90s. Starting out a an arcade craze and then migrating over to the PSone, Konami's pseudo DJing game is finally coming the U.S. for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox later this year. I had a chance to talk to Konami's Shingo Mukaitoge (producer) and Hiroyuko Togo (manager) about the upcoming release.

GameSpy: Give us a general overview of the U.S. game.

A: The U.S. version of Beatmania will be a brand-new game. We are going to customize it for the U.S. gamers. We'll include many different types of songs, including all of the tunes from the original game as well as the most popular songs from IIDX (the latest version of the game in Japan) as well as some brand-new songs too, which have been made specifically for the U.S. market. There will also be varying difficultly levels as the Japanese versions of Beatmania are very difficult indeed.

GameSpy: Why bring the game out now in the U.S. after such a long time?

A:Beatmania was the first music genre game released in Japan. We originally thought Beatmania might be too difficult at first and complicated to play because the player has to spin the table and press the keys, so we thought it was a good idea to bring out Dance Dance Revolution first and see how popular the music genre of games would become in the U.S. Now that DDR is successful in the U.S., we thought it was time to bring the original Bemani music game from Japan to the States.

GameSpy: How many songs will the game have at launch?

A: We've included the songs from PSone Beatmania and PS2 Beatmania, as well as more brand-new songs for the U.S. market.

GameSpy: Why is the game so popular in Japan?

A: Back at launch in Japan, one of the most popular occupations was the DJ. Becoming a DJ meant you could be popular with the girls! But not many people knew what was involved in being a DJ, so Beatmania allowed many people to experience being a DJ for themselves.

GameSpy: Is it more popular with guys than girls?

A:Beatmania has both male and female fans, but when it first came out, it was mainly the guys who wanted to play. And now, the game is really aimed at hardcore players in Japan as it has become so difficult to play. Sometimes, even the game developers cannot clear the songs! That said, the U.S. game will be much more forgiving for the casual non-hardcore player.